Discussing Emergency Situations with your Children

Without a doubt children are extremely inquisitive, observant and perceptive; they notice things, often without us even being aware of them watching or listening.   It’s great that they absorb enormous amounts of information so easily but it can also be detrimental to their peace of mind if they see or hear things which are frightening or difficult to understand.

Take the TV news for example; your child could appear to be playing happily without paying the slightest attention to anything on the TV yet they could still be seeing disturbing images of recent terror attacks, huge tower block fires or interviews discussing missing children.   These devastating images could cause anxiety in your child when left unexplained.

If your little one is beginning to take notice and ask questions about events that have been covered by the media you have some options, one of which is to be far more vigilant about turning the TV off or changing channels during news reports.

The other option is to be pro-active and use these events to reassure your child but also to discuss some basic lessons about safety precautions and emergency procedures, but with an eye to alleviating fear and anxiety rather than inciting it.

We have put together a few tips on how to broach a number of subjects with your children:

Terrorism

Terrorism is clearly a very difficult subject to discuss with a child because even adults struggle to comprehend such widespread horror. Only approach this subject if your child asks questions about something they have seen but not understood on the TV or have been told something at school that they are not sure about.

• Keep calm yourself and be reassuring that these events are very rare.
• Keep your conversation simple, age-appropriate and avoid details about injuries etc.
• Ask them what they have heard and what they want to know about the event and stick to those things rather than adding any other details.
• Find out what frightens them and address it – most children really just want to know that they will be safe.

Child Safety

If your child is old enough to be anywhere without you, you should have a conversation about their safety. They need to know that:

• You would never ask a stranger to collect them or give them a lift anywhere.
• Strangers or dangerous people do not always look scary. Perfectly normal people are still strangers if your child does not know them, and should never be approached.
• They must never accept gifts of any kind from anyone they do not know.
• They must never walk home from anywhere alone without your permission and must wait in a safe place for you to arrive if you are delayed for any reason – Inside the school, a shop or with someone they know you trust, for example.

If they get lost

At some point or another, every child gets distracted, wanders off or simply can’t see their parent or carer momentarily. Avoid scaring your child but be firm with your instructions for this eventuality and try to cover a variety of situations/scenarios:

• Your child should learn your mobile phone number as soon as possible.
• They need to know where to go should you become separated – head to the tills, customer service or a member of staff if lost when shopping or to the ticket office or a staff member if they are lost on public transport networks.
• Show your child what a police officer or fireman looks like in uniform.

Safety in the home

Your child should feel safe at home but also know what to do in the event of an accident or fire. At an appropriate age you could teach your child:

• The emergency service telephone number and also their own full name and address.
• Never to leave the house/garden without your knowledge.
• Never to open the door to anyone when you are not present in the room.
• Fire safety – that hot things burn and never to touch lit candles, the oven, cooking utensils or matches, etc.
• In the event of a fire to go to the front gate of the house and stay there.
• To call the emergency services if you should become incapacitated for any reason – a fall, blackout, illness, etc.

Children should, ideally, never be introduced to information which they will not fully understand and certainly nothing that will incite fear and anxiety. Therefore, a level of care needs to be taken with exposure to any form of media. Your child only needs to become aware of the inherent dangers of life when they are mature enough to assimilate and deal with the facts. However, a few safety lessons of what to do in unforeseen circumstances is certainly something that all parents should be introducing once their child is old enough to understand and not be scared by the information.